North Carolina State looks to continue improbable tourney run

ST. LOUIS — North Carolina State almost didn’t make it to the big dance.

Late in the season, the Wolfpack fell into a four-game losing streak. The NCAA Tournament wasn’t a sure bet.

Tony Dejak / The Associated PressN.C. State Coach Mark Gottfried has the Wolfpack in its first Sweet 16 since 2005.

But then something happened.

“I think what has happened with us is we’re a team that just kept getting better,” North Carolina State first-year coach Mark Gottfried said. “We played a very good non-conference schedule. Our league (Atlantic Coast Conference) schedule is very tough. We played really good teams. We didn’t win a lot of those games, and I just think our team began to figure out how to defend a little bit better, what we needed to run at certain times and who needs to do what for us. So we were a team that just has continued to get better.

“Then we had the four-game losing streak, and at that point we were out of room for error. There was no room for error. We knew it. Players knew it. I think they just responded to that in a very positive way.”

Indeed, the 11th-seeded Wolfpack, after upsetting third-seeded Georgetown on Sunday, has responded. It has advanced to the Midwest Region semifinals tonight against second-seeded Kansas at the Edward Jones Dome.

It’s N.C. State’s first Sweet 16 berth since 2005. The winner of tonight’s North Carolina State-Kansas game will meet the North Carolina-Ohio winner in Sunday’s Midwest Region final.

“They’re playing really, really well,” Kansas guard Connor Teahan said. “They’re not going to be intimidated by us, so we’re not going to be focused in on their seed at all.”

The Wolfpack was NCAA champion in 1974 and 1983, but they hadn’t been relevant in the NCAA Tournament in seven years.

But unlike 13th-seeded Ohio, North Carolina State, winners of six of its past seven games, appears to be comfortable with being tagged with the “Cinderella” label.

“I think we are a Cinderella team,” North Carolina State forward C.J. Leslie said. “Nobody expected us to be here. We just keep believing in ourselves that we’re going to make it to at least the Final Four.”

Kansas Coach Bill Self doesn’t need to provide his team with any extra motivation.

The Jayhawks know what can happen if they are not on top of their game in the NCAA Tournament.

Last year as a No. 1 seed, Kansas turned in a sub-par performance against 11th-seeded Virginia Commonwealth and was ousted in the Elite Eight.

“I don’t think there’s really any upsets this time of year, like a lot of the so-called prognosticators think there is,” Self said. “Once you get to this weekend, all the teams are good. So there may be minor ones, but they’re not major upsets this time of year.”

The key for North Carolina State likely will be how the Wolfpack post defenders play against Kansas’ 6-foot-10 forward Thomas Robinson, the Big 12 Player of the Year. Robinson averages 18.2 points and 11.7 rebounds per game.

“Well, we know that Robinson is a very strong player, and the matchup is basically I know he’s going to use his strength and I’m going to use my quickness, and that’s pretty much how we’re going to match up,” Leslie said.